( AFP )- Russia's foreign ministry said Wednesday it was studying written proposals from the United States aimed at allaying Moscow's concerns over Washington's missile defence plans in Europe.
The proposals came after US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defence Secretary Robert Gates held talks in Moscow on Monday and Tuesday with outgoing President Vladimir Putin, president-elect Dmitry Medvedev and other top officials.
"We've literally just received the written proposals of the American side on missile defence and will proceed to study them," foreign ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin told Russian news agency Interfax.
A foreign ministry spokeswoman confirmed to AFP that the document had been received belatedly after being promised on Tuesday evening.
Russian newspapers on Wednesday said both sides were keen to ensure that Putin's planned attendance at a NATO summit in Bucharest on April 2-4 was a cordial affair.
Russia has strongly opposed the US plans to set up a missile defence radar in the Czech Republic and linked interceptor missiles in Poland, describing them as a threat to Russia's security.
Washington insists the facilities are needed to guard against unfriendly states such as Iran and North Korea and are not directed against Moscow.
Despite Russian opposition, this week's meetings marked a contrast with previous angry exchanges.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov described as "important and useful" the latest US proposals, previously said to include allowing Russian officers to inspect the defence sites.
Wednesday's edition of the state newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta said that while Russia remained unhappy with the overall missile defence plan, this week's meetings "clearly can't be called a failure."
The independent Gazeta newspaper said the US proposals "give reason to predict a warm, friendly atmosphere at the NATO summit" to be attended by Putin.
The Kommersant broadsheet agreed that Washington wanted to ensure a smooth visit by Putin to the summit, which is likely to include his last major foreign policy speech before handing the presidency over to Medvedev in May.
As well as making concessions on missile defence, Washington would "not force" the issue of granting requests made by ex-Soviet Georgia and Ukraine for permission to begin formal accession to NATO, Kommersant said.
Russia has vehemently opposed the two states joining the alliance.
Kommersant said that Washington believes "admission to NATO of former Soviet republics will remain a priority for the next US president... but for George Bush there are more important problems to solve at the moment."